GDF Suez Energy Resources NA Forms Subsidiary to Supply Small Volume Customers

GDF Suez Energy Resources NA has launched a new subsidiary to serve small volume electric customers.

The new unit, GDF Suez Energy Retail Solutions, LLC, has thus far sought electric supplier licenses in Illinois and Maryland.

GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions, LLC was formed to manage the "small commercial market" for its parent.

Aside from Illinois and Maryland, GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions said that it will be seeking to serve small commercial electric customers in all states where its parent is active, including: Connecticut, Delaware, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, and Ohio.

GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions said that it is currently in the "application submission process" for Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas, in addition to Maryland. New Jersey and Massachusetts do not post applications online; no application has yet been filed in Texas. An electronic copy of the Maryland application is not available.

Parent GDF Suez Energy Resources NA has previously said that its target customer range is 50 kW to more than 200 MW.

It is not clear if GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions will exclusively serve customers under 50 kW, or will also inherit some of the larger small commercial (e.g. 50-100 kW) or even smaller mid-merit business from its parent as well.

In Illinois, GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions is seeking to serve all sizes of non-residential customers at Ameren and Commonwealth Edison.

Specifically, GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions sought authority under Subpart D of the license process, which under the administrative code would grant a supplier authority to serve all customer classes. However, as GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions is not interested in serving residential customers at this time, it is apparently seeking to carve out authority to only serve all sizes of non-residential customers, and does not wish to be granted authority to serve residential customers, despite Subpart D typically not making any distinction between residential and non-residential authority.

This is indicated by GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions' certifications required in the application to follow various procedures and compliance requirements for residential and small commercial customers. GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions has certified to such compliance by stating that it will follow the procedures (such as mailing small volume customers consumer education info and information on how to obtain a supplier list) for "small commercial retail customers" as opposed to certifying compliance with the requirements for "residential and small commercial retail customers," as is the typical boilerplate language used for such certifications under Subpart D.

GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions indicated that it will use Vertex Business Services to handle customer care for its small commercial customers.

GDF Suez Retail Energy Solutions does not intend to provide single billing services in Illinois.

GDF Suez Energy Resources NA serves approximately 4,500 businesses and 60,000 accounts in the United States.